Ben Hess took the mound for the seventh time at the Double-A level, as the Yankees’ first-rounder from the 2024 draft class hoped to keep his hot streak rolling.
With a 1.66 ERA and 34.9% K% in his last four starts, Hess has adapted well in Somerset, looking unphased by the higher level of competition he’s facing now that he’s in the Eastern League.
Facing the Fightin Phils on the road, he’d deliver six innings of one-run ball, walking two batters and picking up six strikeouts in the contest.
It lowers his ERA at the Double-A level to 2.70, collecting strikeouts on his fastball, curveball, and changeup in the stellar performance.
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Does a Strong 2025 Season For Ben Hess Puts Him in Yankees’ 2026 Rotation Plans?
One of the best strikeout pitchers in Minor League Baseball, Ben Hess has a 33% strikeout rate in 103.1 innings pitched between High-A and Double-A.
The Yankees have seen their first-round pick display the incredible swing-and-miss stuff they saw at Alabama, something that made them ignore his high ERA and take him in the first round of the draft.
Hess has a strong fastball that can overpower hitters despite sitting around 92-94 MPH because of the shape of that pitch and how he releases it.
This deceptive fastball is the bedrock of his arsenal, as it generates ~19 inches of Induced Vertical Break from lower release height than average.
He generates an abnormal amount of movement at the top of the zone relative to where he releases the ball from, and it makes the development of his secondaries an exciting story to follow.
Ben Hess’ signature breaking ball out of college was his big breaking ball, and while the Yankees haven’t had him ditch this pitch, it’s clear that they want him to incorporate other secondary pitches as well.
The right-hander has developed a wicked changeup with tons of depth that creates a lot of vertical separation off of his fastball, and it’s become one of his best weapons to lefties.
A big issue with Hess’ repertoire is that his mix is very effective for opposite-handed hitters, curveballs and changeups tend to be less effective against same-handed hitters, and his feel for a slider is still developing.
He’s gone from throwing a mediocre gyro slider shape to a big sweeping slider, but sitting around 77-80 MPH, he needs to throw that breaking ball much harder if he wants to use that pitch at the MLB level.
The movement he gets on the sweeper is encouraging, but at that velocity range it’s batting practice if left over the plate, and it’ll be something the Yankees need to target for Hess in 2026.
Improving velocity has been a speciality for the Yankees, with no better recent example than rookie starter Cam Schlittler.
Cam Schlittler is an outlier example of how velocity training can completely transform a prospect, he went from sitting 93-94 in 2024 to sitting 96-98 in 2025, no one is repeating that.
That being said, adding a tick of velocity would go a long way for Hess, who already displays elite strikeout abilities.
Refining his command is another priority here; the strike-throwing has gotten better, but the ability to land his secondary pitches consistently in places where they’ll get whiffs is also critical.
It also should be noted just how much better he’s gotten as the year has gone on, this was a pitcher who lagged behind Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Carlos Lagrange, and Bryce Cunningham by a considerable margin entering July.
If we see Hess twirl an 80-82 MPH sweeper in Spring and his fastball has more 94s and 95s than 91s and 92s, then we might be looking at a top-100 prospect.